News

$999.99 I Am Rich app hits the App Store [Updated]

By Charles Starrett ● Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Described as “a work of art with no hidden function at all,” a new $999.99 iPhone application has appeared on the App Store. I Am Rich by Armin Heinrich does very little despite its exorbitant price tag, displaying a screen with a red jewel and an info button that can be clicked to show a “secret mantra” that “may help you to stay rich, healthy, and successful.” It is unclear why Apple chose to approve an application that costs so much and does so little, but I Am Rich may further elucidate the nature of Apple’s software review procedures.

Comments

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>but I Am Rich may further elucidate the nature of Apple’s software review procedures.

I think you are correct. This is a passive indicator of how much effort and integrity is employed in Apple’s vetting process. I’m confident it will improve, though.

Also… looking forward to reports on the first person who has “one-click purchase” turned on in iTunes, and accidentally purchases this. :-)

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 10:36 AM (CDT)

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I think this is part one of a two-part application ... Heinrich should be releasing I Am Stupid v.1.0 pretty soon.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 10:52 AM (CDT)

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I really don’t get Apple’s ability to manage the apps in the app store. Granted it’s not a huge mystery to see Netshare get the boot, but Apple is setting an awful precedent when they boot a useful free app like Box Office, then allow garbage like Am I Rich in the app store. There already is a fair share of garbage in the app store, this is just expensive piece of garbage. This also brings me to another problem I’m surprised I never hear anyone talk about. Why despite setting up the shopping cart for the iTunes store can you buy apps with one click? I don’t like this, I did manage to accidentally buy an app I did not intend on buying because I incidentally tapped my mouse by mistake. I setup the shopping cart because this happened before. I can just imagine someone accidentally buying that Am I Rich app unintentionally for the same reason.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 11:03 AM (CDT)

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With the 1500 apps in the App Store maybe 150 are decent. This just proves Apple has no method for testing or certifying apps. Maybe this is why my iPhone crashes and bricks daily and the apps quit constantly. Keeping the NDA in place so developers can not communicate and testing nothing is a receipt for pain for the users and a money grab for Apple.

The 7.7.1 iTunes update and the 2.0.1 iPhone update have actually fixed very little. Just take a look inside your Mobile Applications folder and get surprised on how iTunes is so buggy it does not even rewrite updated apps, instead it adds them leaving you with many copies of the same app filling up your hard drive!

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 11:19 AM (CDT)

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While I do not like everything in the App Store the amount of grief it receives is uncalled for. The store belongs to Apple and they frankly can do what they want with it. Show your disapproval in not using it and not by incessantly whining about what they choose to, or not to, offer. This sense of entitlement is reaching new levels of ridiculousness every day. When Steve walks into your house and starts choosing what furniture stays or goes then you will have just cause.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 11:28 AM (CDT)

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Jordan, great idea! I’ll just buy my apps somewhere else to show disapproval of Apple’s not so great app management.. I knew there was a silver lining in all of this. /sarcasim

Yes I know I could just jailbreak my iPod to skirt this issue. Umm.. That’s not going to happen because I don’t trust jailbroken apps as far as I can throw them. So the problem here is I only have one place I can get my apps, so I as a customer feel I do have the right to make some noise and be critical about how the one and only app store is doing business.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 12:05 PM (CDT)

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Exclusivity does not equate to a complete justification. You certainly are free to complain (as if you were going to stop anyway) but why? I think it’s ridiculous how much some complain about a service, one that is a luxury at that. If I don’t like it then oh well, I will move on. I guess that’s just me though.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 12:25 PM (CDT)

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It seems you all don’t understand how capitalism works. Good grief!

Move to Peru.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 1:04 PM (CDT)

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When Apple is the only retailer that can sell you an app for their device, then we as customers should have the right to criticize them because they are a monopoly in this field. If we customers don’t say anything, nothing gets done. Also I’d like to make a point that we iPod Touch owners paid no less than $300 (in retail outlets) for our devices. Many of us paid $20 for the January update, and $10 for the 2.0 update. That doesn’t bother me actually. However that’s a pretty substantial investment for most consumers, don’t you think we should have a say in approval or disapproval of how our device manufacturer is doing business? I don’t mean to argue with you Jordan, but you have to bare in mind that we as customers have a right to give any given business feedback. If we don’t let them know what they are doing wrong, they will continue to keep doing things wrong and we as customers will continue to get burned in the end. If Apple doesn’t listen to us customers, another device manufacturer could potentially get it right, and eat Apple’s lunch.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 1:10 PM (CDT)

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It’s simple: If you don’t like products offered in the App Store, don’t make a purchase. And since when is being on the leading edge of technology all of a sudden a monopoly? Apple has every right to approve or disapprove any and all applications that link to their products.
Sure, you should be free to criticize Apple all you want. But remember, you’re not on Apple’s board of directors, so don’t be surprised if your ideas aren’t implemented…

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 1:27 PM (CDT)

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===It’s simple: If you don’t like products offered in the App Store, don’t make a purchase.===
Posted by RNB in Bakersfield, CA on August 6, 2008 at 10:27 AM (PDT)

Normally I would agree. But since there is no system in place for demos and even developers themselves are restricted somewhat with their beta testing, we have to rely on Apple to show some common sense when it comes to apps. Right now, peer reviews are the only way we know about how good an app is. And if an app has few reviews, you basically have to crap shoot and hope its an app worth the money. But it shouldn’t be up to the customers to weed out the bad apps.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 1:49 PM (CDT)

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This is my last post on this subject today, I promise!

Ok first off, I didn’t say they were a monopoly because of them “being on the leading edge of technology.” I said the app store is a monopoly because it’s the only place on the planet you can legally buy an application for the iPhone or iPod Touch with Apple’s blessing. Secondly I agree if you disapprove of an app, don’t buy it. That’s not even the point I was trying to make. My point is Apple gave an actual useful app (Box Office) the boot with out a warning or a reason.. Yet they allow a junk app like I Am Rich in the store that doesn’t do much of anything but costs a bundle. My point of the get go is Apple has a strange screening process that doesn’t seem to have it’s bottom line in anyone’s best interest, even their own. This in the end doesn’t just hurt us, it hurts everyone but the shmuck that makes $999.99 per click.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 1:50 PM (CDT)

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Of course, there is the chance when reviewing that app, Apple had the simple notion that if someone WERE to buy it (probably by mistake, per the one-click purchase), Apple DOES make a hefty percentage of each app sold. Why not let the $999 app go through and make a few extra hundred dollars? I don’t agree with that, but who really knows?

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 4:50 PM (CDT)

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I completely understand all the points that are made when criticizing Apple. You see them exercising poor judgment and want them to discontinue that. A very understandable reaction. What doesn’t make sense, is the proprietary viewpoints that are quite common in the Apple enthusiasts world. Many feel a person slight when Apple does something they disagree with and then flood gates open- “Steve better…” this and “This is so Microsoft-like” that. Yeah, Apple runs a closed-system operation in pretty much everything they do. So what? Don’t support them with your funds. While it may seem like only through making some noise will you bring about change, this isn’t the 60’s. It’s dollars, or lack there of, that bring about real change.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 6:45 PM (CDT)

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Situations like this are creating a sort of App Store community-watch, and I dont mean that in a good way. There will be all sorts of “little old ladies” looking out their virtual windows for anything, and I do mean anything, that they think is unusual and ready to call foul at the drop of a hat.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 7:11 PM (CDT)

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I agree with Jordan.
Apple is a corporation.
Why do you Nannies care if someone wants to spend $999 on an app that sux?
I love the left-wing babysitters that always want to censor.
The epitome of hypocrisy - they always say the “right” are the close-minded ones.
I have to laugh.
Let it go ‘net nannies.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 6, 2008 at 7:19 PM (CDT)

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I don’t care if anyone buys a $999 app. If anyone wanted to spend their money on it, more power to them. However I admit I became defensive when Jordan said the grief the app store received was uncalled for. I felt like Jordan was targeting what I said in my comment. I was only merely defending my own opinion nothing more. I can’t argue that Apple has every right to do what it wants with it’s own app store. I do not disagree with that whatsoever. However I will still stand by my own opinion to the end.. That is I feel that Apple set a bad precedent by removing a useful fairly popular app with out word or warning a few days ago, then allow a potentially financially damaging app on the store that doesn’t do anything. Especially when there is a danger that (depending on the users settings) that a customer could possibly purchase it with a single click unintentionally. At least the popular useful app was free. While I do apologize for going on with my argument with you guys, I agree to disagree with you and will continue to stick to my opinion of what I think Apple has done wrong.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 7, 2008 at 1:51 AM (CDT)

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I don’t think there’s any reason to make this a political issue, slb. It’s also ironic that you describe “left-wing babysitters” as overly prone to censoring, given that obtuse, uneven censorship has historically been within the dominion of the more conservative factions.

No one is complaining about this application in a vacuum. It’s not the mere presence of a $1000 useless app that draws people’s ire, but the fact that other apps of considerable utility have been yanked from the store without explanation. When this application appeared, it caused some to legitimately question if Apple is imprudent or inequitable in its approval process.

Meanwhile, it’s a dicey proposition to critique the corporation here, lest you be illogically branded a “left-wing babysitter” or a “nanny” or find yourself on the receiving end of an Apple apologist’s wrath (see, e.g., Comment #10).

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 7, 2008 at 9:42 AM (CDT)

1

I’ll wait for a price cut.

Posted by Charles Starrett on August 7, 2008 at 11:32 AM (CDT)

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Apple is on the world stage now and they have some correcting to do. But they have accomplished with the iPhone and related products what most said was impossible. That’s a fact.
Who really cares if they offer useless apps in the store? As I have said…Don’t like it, don’t buy it! Should a store owner sift through his magazine rack and pull the useless publications to protect the poor, unsuspecting customer? Hogwash.
Being an Apple user since the 1980s and understanding capitalism doesn’t make me an “Apple apologist” (comment #18). Sorry, absolutely no “wrath” intended…